Stark: Red Sox Made Unprecedented Rise To First Place

Jayson Stark, ESPN (my emphasis):

The Red Sox are nature's way of reminding us how long the baseball season really is. They were once 2-10 -- and then went 22-10. They were once 5-11 -- and then went 25-11. So now here they are, just weeks after tying their worst 12-game start in the 111-year history of the franchise, in a virtual tie for first place in the AL East. ...

[Elias Sports Bureau] reports the Red Sox just became only the fifth team in history to start a season 2-10 or worse and recover to occupy first place at any point in a season. Even more incredibly, they also became the first team ever to travel from 2-10 to first place in fewer than 40 games.

So how'd they go from those depths to the best May record (19-9) in the American League? ... [T]he offense finally heard the alarm go off. The Red Sox were 21st in the majors in runs scored in April. But not only have they scored the most runs in May (149), just two AL teams (the Yankees and Blue Jays) are even within 30 runs of them. ...

Stark names Josh Beckett as his starting pitcher of the month. Among many neat factoids, there is this: In May, Beckett became the seventh Red Sox pitcher in (at least) 93 years to have five straight starts in which he allowed one run or zero runs.